Light Up Your World This Christmas

Because of God’s love for us, we are intended to shine as lights in this world. God’s plan for us is not to focus on GETTING, but on GIVING not just in this season, but in every season.

Bible Passages: Isaiah 9:2, 1 Peter 2:9, Philippians 2:12-16, Luke 1:76-80

Isaiah 9:2 (ESV - English Standard Version)
2 The people who walked in darkness
 have seen a great light;
those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness,
 on them has light shone.

1 Peter 2:9 (NKJV - New King James Version)
9 But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of  darkness into His marvelous light;

LIGHT:

• Attracts Attention
• Guides our Steps
• Exposes Reality

How does your candlelight look different when we dim the lights a little?
The light shines even brighter.

“[Christmas] lights are not just decorative; they are symbolic.”
But What do these lights symbolize? And what do they tell us about Christmas?
Lights being symbolic of Christmas actually pre-dates the birth of Jesus.

700 years before the birth of Jesus, the Old Testament prophet Isaiah said God was going to send His light into the darkness.

Isaiah 9:2 (ESV)
The people who walked in darkness
have seen a great light;
those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness,
on them has light shone.

What does this mean? What does it mean that the people were “walking in darkness”?
The people Isaiah prophesied to were living in a state of darkness and alienation from God.

They were blinded by their sin, but they didn’t realize it.
It was like they were colorblind, but they didn’t know it.
They couldn’t see God’s truth. They only saw their truth, which wasn’t truth at all.
Isaiah says of the people:
Isaiah 8:19-20 (ESV)
19 And when they say to you, “Inquire of the mediums and the necromancers who chirp and mutter,” should not a people inquire of their God? Should they inquire of the dead on behalf of the living? 20 To the teaching and to the testimony! If they will not speak according to this word, it is because they have no dawn.

If the light is symbolic of JESUS, the darkness is symbolic of control, emptiness and anger.

CONTROL

The people in Isaiah’s time had access to God.
They were able to go to the temple and pray and offer sacrifices, but instead they chose to go to “mediums and the necromancers.”
They’d rather talk to the dead instead of the living God. Maybe because they didn’t want to hear what God had to say.
They don’t want to submit themselves to “the teaching and the testimony.”

If they go to God, they have to do it God’s way.

It’s much easier to try and do life on their terms.

Whenever we approach God to get what we want out of him, whenever we think we can bend God to our will, we confirm that we’re living in darkness.

We want to be in control of our life. We want to be in charge.

When we ignore God’s teachings so that we can live in the outer-regions of our spirituality, we’re lost.
That will leave us empty and angry.

Isaiah 8:21-22 (ESV)
21 They will pass through the land, greatly distressed and hungry. And when they are hungry, they will be enraged and will speak contemptuously against their king and their God, and turn their faces upward. 22 And they will look to the earth, but behold, distress and darkness, the gloom of anguish. And they will be thrust into thick darkness.

The darkness is symbolic of control, but also emptiness.

EMPTINESS

Those walking in darkness are “greatly distressed and hungry…”
If you’re hungry, if you’re never satisfied, if you’re stumbling around looking for something to satisfy you, you might be in the darkness.
This is especially true at Christmas time because Christmas is all about desiring for the next best thing, a new car, the newest game console, the newest styles.
Those things might fill that inner hunger for a bit, but the hunger pangs come back.
Charlie Brown get’s it. Lucy tells him Christmas is “a big commercial racket” run by “a big eastern syndicate.”
Something about the way the world operates leaves us empty. That’s darkness.
Charlie yearned for the true light of Christmas. Linus got it when he reads about the birth of Christ.
The darkness is symbolic of control, emptiness, and sadly…

ANGER

The people look up to heaven and are “enraged” and they “speak contemptuously against their king and their God…”

Intrinsically, we know that when things don’t go our way, it’s God’s fault.
That’s why there must not be a God, because a good God would always see things my way, right?

So we get angry, wound ourselves, and wound others.

Do you find yourself always trying to be in control and yet feeling empty, even angry?

That’s a sign you need Christ. You need Jesus’ light.

Maybe you think you can fix yourself on your own?

I love Christmas lights, but I can never fix them when they go out.
Have you ever tried to fix a light strand when a bulb goes out?
What’s the trick? Some of the strands I had at my house were about halfway burnt out.

I tried replacing the first bulb with one of the extras they give you in a tiny plastic bag, but I’ve never been successful.
So you know what, I just ended up throwing those light strands away!

Just like I’ve never been able to fix my lights when they break, I’ll never be able to fix my need for control, my emptiness, and my anger.

When we try, we just make the problem worse.
We need a light, a solution, external to ourselves.
We need light from maker of light.

There was nothing and there is nothing we can do to fix our problems, to turn on the light, so God sent His light into our world.

Isaiah 9:2 (ESV)
The people who walked in darkness
have seen a great light;
those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness,
on them has light shone.

We’ve seen a great light.
God sends his light into the world to save anyone trapped in an endless battle for control, broken with emptiness, or filled with anger.
God sent His light into our darkness. What kind of light has shone? The light of a baby.

Isaiah 9:6 (ESV)
For to us a child is born,
to us a son is given;
and the government shall be upon his shoulder,
and his name shall be called
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

We did nothing. We were in the night, in our sin, in ignorance.
We didn’t build fires. We didn’t evolve into better human beings.
We didn’t solve world hunger or create world peace. But somehow the light still came.

Did you know that every gospel account opens differently?
Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John?
The Gospel of John, chapter one, opens by identifying Jesus as the light.

John 1:5 (ESV)
The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.
It talks about Jesus as the light all the way through verse 9 (see John 1:5-13).
But in chapter 8 Jesus actually identifies himself as “the light of the world.”

John 8:12 (ESV)
Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”

John 9:5 (ESV) - As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.”

Matthew 5:14-16 (NASB)
14 “You are the light of the world. A city set on a []hill cannot be hidden; 15 nor do people light a lamp and put it under a []basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. 16 Your light must shine before people in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.

Jesus came as the light of the world to bring us HOPE, LOVE, JOY, PEACE.
He gave His life so that you and I could live forever with Him in heaven.
If we will turn from our sin, and walk out of the darkness and into His light,
we can have all of our sins washed away by being baptized in His Name,
and He will fill us with His Spirit.

Emmanuel God WITH us became

CHRIST IN us - the Hope of Glory.

Now it’s up to us to LIGHT OUR WORLD with HIS LIGHT!

Christmas Truce of 1914
On December 7, 1914, Pope Benedict the Fifteenth suggested a temporary cease-fire of World War I for the celebration of Christmas. The warring countries refused to create any official cease-fire, but on Christmas the soldiers in the trenches declared their own unofficial truce. Starting on Christmas Eve, many German and British troops sang Christmas carols to each other across the lines, and at certain points the Allied soldiers even heard brass bands joining the Germans in their joyous singing.At the first light of dawn on Christmas Day, some German soldiers emerged from their trenches and approached the Allied lines across no-man’s-land, calling out “Merry Christmas” in English. At first, the Allied soldiers feared it was a trick, but seeing the Germans unarmed they climbed out of their trenches and shook hands with the German soldiers. The men exchanged presents of cigarettes and plum puddings and sang carols and songs. There is even a documented case of soldiers from opposing sides playing a good-natured game of soccer.The so-called Christmas Truce of 1914 came only five months after the start of war in Europe and was one of the last examples of chivalry between enemies in warfare. It was never repeated—officers stopped future attempts at holiday ceasefires with threats of disciplinary action—but it served as heartening proof, however brief, that beneath the brutal clash of weapons, God’s gift of peace endured.

Philippians 2:12-16 (NIV - New International Version)
12 Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed—not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence—continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling,
13 for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose.
14 Do everything without grumbling or arguing,
15 so that you may become blameless and pure, “children of God without fault in a warped and crooked generation.” Then you will shine among them like stars in the sky
16 as you hold firmly to the word of life. And then I will be able to boast on the day of Christ that I did not run or labor in vain.

Luke 1:76-80 (NIV - New International Version)
76 And you, my child, will be called a prophet of the Most High; for you will go on before the Lord to prepare the way for him,
77 to give his people the knowledge of salvation through the forgiveness of their sins,
78 because of the tender mercy of our God, by which the rising sun will come to us from heaven
79 to shine on those living in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the path of peace.”
80 And the child grew and became strong in spirit ; and he lived in the wilderness until he appeared publicly to Israel.